MIAMI — Miami, Miami Beach, Miami-Dade County and Hallandale Beach were four of the many municipalities and organizations that observed a nationwide Moment of Silence on February 1, 2018. The Moment of Silence honored Echol Cole and Robert Walker, two Memphis, TN sanitation workers who were crushed to death 50 years ago in the compactor of their garbage truck. Their deaths sparked the walk-out of 1,300 fellow sanitation workers, all members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Local 1733. That pivotal strike brought Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to Memphis in April of 1968 to support the sanitation workers’ cause.

“Dr. King often said that the arc of human history leans towards justice. But the truth of the matter is that it doesn’t just lean there by accident. It leans there because people every day try to grab that arc and pull it towards justice,” said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber. “We appreciate you and we respect you is not said enough to people who work for a living.”

“What we hope all workers realize is that the uniforms we wear, the equipment we use, we often take them for granted but they only came through great struggle and great sacrifice,” said Marcellous Stringer, a sanitation worker with Miami-Dade County and president of AFSCME Local 3292. “Dr. King gave his life for these things, for the equality at work we still struggle for today, and today we renew our commitment to achieving that equality.”

The Moment of Silence is part of a broader I AM 2018 campaign jointly sponsored by AFSCME and the Church of God In Christ (COGIC). AFSCME and COGIC launched the I AM 2018 campaign to honor the Memphis sanitation workers and Dr. King, in observance of the 50th anniversary of the strike and the assassination of Dr. King on April 4, 1968. The I AM 2018 campaign is a grassroots voter education and mobilization campaign that will train thousands of activists to create change in their communities and carry on the legacy of Dr. King and the sanitation workers.

“We are always going to have your back is the message workers need to hear from their leaders and from our whole community,” said City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez

“It is important to hold events like this that help to educate us about the people who paved the way for us to get to where we are today,” said City of Hallandale Beach Commissioner Anabelle Taub

“Imagine the courage it took for African-American municipal employees in the Jim Crow South to defy the local power structure and go on strike–not just for a living wage, and not just for decent working conditions,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders.. “These brave men were striking to demand dignity and respect; to demand racial justice and economic justice.”

“I AM A MAN” was the slogan that the 1968 striking sanitation workers adopted to shine a light on their degrading working conditions and to assert their humanity. The I AM 2018 campaign will continue the unfinished work of confronting prejudice, poverty and advancing the freedom of all working people today.